Hotel, residential planned for Columbia's crescent property

Preliminary plans to build a hotel, 400 residential units, retail and office space on approximately 23 acres of land on downtown Columbia's crescent property will be revealed at a pre-submission community meeting.

According to Mike Trappen, a civil engineer from Gutschick Little and Weber, a firm retained by landowner Howard Hughes Corp., the meeting does "not speak to anything specific," and will reveal general design guidelines for a portion of the neighborhood, which borders Symphony Woods and Merriweather Post Pavilion.

"The meeting is to go over a land use plan," Trappen said. "Not a development plan, so to speak, where you will see what buildings are going to look like. ... It's not that kind of plan yet. We are still working on that. This is developing the parameters for the parcel."

Trappen did say preliminary plans call for retail and office space, at least 400 residential units and a hotel.

A spokesperson for Howard Hughes would not confirm specifics of the plans and declined to comment on the development.

The pre-submission meeting, which is the first step in the county's 16-step downtown development process, will focus on 23 acres west of Symphony Woods between Little Patuxent Parkway and Hickory Ridge Road, Trappen said.

Specifics like square footage and building height have not yet been determined, he said.

Following the Oct. 21 meeting, the plans will be submitted to Howard County's Design Advisory Panel, a seven-member panel that analyzes the project's compatibility with existing development and critiques architecture and design.

For the first time ever, the Sweetlife Festival — now entering its sixth year — will take over Merriweather Post Pavilion for two days, May 30-31. The expansion, along with the lineup, was announced on the Sweetlife website today.